tongue-tied
Americanadjective
-
speechless, esp with embarrassment or shyness
-
having a condition of tongue-tie
Etymology
Origin of tongue-tied
First recorded in 1520–30; tongue + tie ( def. ) + -ed 2 ( def. )
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Even when she became tongue-tied and had to laugh her way out of it, her slips became endearing.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026
Yet, that she made it at all makes every frame feel personal, and you hear her affection for the cadence of her occasionally tongue-tied subjects.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2025
Still others remained tongue-tied about the “quandary” at hand, as Florida Sen. Marco Rubio put it.
From Slate ● Feb. 27, 2024
During our studio visit, Bradford turned uncharacteristically tongue-tied when he tried to articulate the sculpture’s relationship to that period.
From New York Times ● Apr. 19, 2023
I sincerely had my doubts, considering how tongue-tied I got around them sometimes.
From "October Sky" by Homer Hickam
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
